The Austin Area Foundation gave its director high marks and added to its board of directors as it kicks off 2016.

At its annual meeting last month, The Austin Area Foundation’s community-led board voted to increase its membership from 18 to 19 and set new policies for guiding grant calculations and distribution policies. The Legacy Fund will distribute $21,000 and Basic Needs Fund will distribute $3,000 available in 2016. Overall, this is an increase of $1,000 compared to 2015.

The board also voted to renew board memberships for Carla Conradt, Darrel Ingvaldson, Glenn Mair, Paul Wahlstrom, Ron Walth and George Brophy, and voted in Rod Nordeng as vice chair.

“I am very pleased that my board colleagues selected me to serve as the vice chair of the Austin Area Foundation,” said Nordeng, a chief operations administrator for Mayo Clinic Health System, in a press release. “The future of our Foundation is exciting and its potential impact for our community is very outstanding.”

Executive director Jeff Baldus received high marks and a unanimous approval on his performance for his achievements and progress gained in the groundbreaking year as the first executive director for the growing community foundation.

“We continue to educate the public and look for ways to have a positive impact on this community of ours,” Baldus said in the release. “There is work to be done but the community is learning the way to positively impact the future is through the Austin Area Foundation’s Legacy fund, Basic Needs fund or our newest fund, the Greatest Need fund.”

Other news from AAF is that through support from The Hormel Foundation, AAF is continuing to offer Austin Area 501 (c) (3) organizations the opportunity to establish and/or add to their current “Endowment Fund” for the benefit of their nonprofit organization. Any nonprofit organization that establishes or adds a minimum of $4000 to an endowment fund AAF as an incentive would add to that fund $2,000.